Health Ministry to scrap planned compulsory e-prescriptions

The Czech Health Ministry is going to scrap plans to introduce compulsory
electronic prescriptions, the news website lidovky.cz reported on Sunday.
E-prescriptions, which were to replace paper prescriptions as of next year,
were expected to save billions of crowns, diminish paperwork in doctors’
offices as well as prevent abuse. But the ministry says many physicians are
not ready for the move, and up to 20 percent of them would have to close
their practices. Doctors’ unions have welcomed the decision, and say
e-prescription should only be voluntary in the future.